Borrowing Builds Across Athletic Retail as Sector Pressures Mount

Between 1 October 2025 and 1 October 2026, Nike’s percentage of market capitalization on loan climbed from 0.97% to 6.97%, an increase of 6.00 percentage points. Under Armour rose from an already elevated 19.65% to 34.21%, adding 14.56 points, while DICK’S advanced from 3.11% to 13.02%, up 9.91 points. On a relative basis, the increases were approximately 620%, 74% and 318%, respectively. The starting positions vary considerably, but the direction is clear: borrowing exposure increased substantially across brands and retailers within the athletic market.

That trend gathered pace in September.

Over the month, Nike’s on-loan measure increased from 5.70% to 6.97%, Under Armour’s from 25.37% to 34.21%, and DICK’S from 11.73% to 13.02%. The broad-based move came as investors assessed a set of pressures extending across the industry. Tariffs are among the most immediate. Athletic footwear, apparel and sporting-goods supply chains remain heavily international, with significant manufacturing exposure to Asia. Higher US import duties can raise costs, forcing companies to choose between absorbing the increase, lifting prices, seeking supplier concessions or shifting production. Each option carries a potential effect on margins, demand or execution. Uncertainty over tariff rates, exemptions and possible refunds adds another variable to earnings forecasts and inventory decisions.

Cost pressure is meeting a more selective consumer.

Footwear and apparel remain discretionary purchases, leaving the category sensitive to household budgets, inflation and confidence. Customers can delay purchases, trade down or wait for markdowns, limiting how readily higher sourcing costs can be passed through. Demand can also rotate quickly between performance products, lifestyle ranges and individual footwear silhouettes. When products sell more slowly than expected, retailers may discount inventory and reduce subsequent orders. Brands can then face weaker wholesale demand alongside pressure on their own direct channels. The result is a connected cycle: tariffs lift costs, promotions constrain pricing power and slower inventory turnover weighs on profitability. Rising market capitalization on loan across all three companies is consistent with closer scrutiny of that margin equation throughout the supply chain.

The scale of the move differs, but the signal is shared.

Under Armour remained the most heavily borrowed name for most of the period. Nike recorded the largest proportional year-on-year increase, while DICK’S moved from a mid-single-digit reading at the start of 2026 to 13.02% by October. Daily movements were uneven, including shorter-lived jumps around trading and reporting periods, but the annual comparison and the September acceleration both show borrowing exposure moving higher across the group.

Market capitalization on loan is not, on its own, a measure of negative investor conviction or a forecast of share-price performance. The percentage can increase because more shares are borrowed, because a company’s market value declines, or through a combination of both. Borrowed stock may also support hedging and other trading strategies, not only outright short positions. Even with those qualifications, the measure offers a useful common thread. Across Nike, Under Armour and DICK’S, higher on-loan levels have coincided with rising import costs, cautious demand, promotional activity, inventory risk and pressure on margins. The figures do not show that investors hold an identical view of each business, but they do indicate that market attention to the sector’s shared risks intensified during 2026.